Harry here and here's a look at a film that has been getting some end of the year notices from critics and that ilk, and we've been covering this film since its debut at Sundance this year. However, it seems that young chap David here wasn't too fond of it. Here ya go....
Hi, Harry --
I may have missed it, but I don't think I've seen a review on your site for In The Bedroom. It's one of the best reviewed films of the year, already gathering a shelf full of awards, and it's got Sissy Spacek in it, so I was really looking forward to it. I saw it today in Berkeley, and it seemed that someone should help diffuse the hype a bit. It's just not that good. About a 6.5 out of 10. I'll warn before I get into spoilers.
Matt and Ruth Fowler (Tom Wilkinson and Spacek) have a son, Frank, who is about eighteen years old and headed off to his first year at college. He's having what he insists is a summer fling with Natalie Strout (Marisa Tomei), who is obviously a good decade his senior. They're actually in love, and he's a good surrogate father to her two sons.
Natalie is in the process of getting a divorce from her abusive husband, Richard, who lives elsewhere. But Richard puts in appearances now and again and hopes to win Natalie back. He's aware of her relationship with Frank and obviously doesn't like it.
Frank's parents are unsure about how to handle the situation; Matt is obviously pleased that his son is showing the markings of a stud -- being able to land a very sexy older woman and all -- and mom is displeased possibly for the same reason, but ostensibly because she feels this affair will cause a hiccup in his life plans if not alter his future altogether. She knows that he feels more for Natalie than he'll admit, but it's in his joy, in his pleasure at nurturing the little boys, it's in his insistence that Ruth like Natalie and feel warmly toward her.
Tension continues to mount as Richard becomes more desperate to regain his place in Natalie's affections, and the film is building nicely for the first act. There's a terrific climax to that which, even if you guessed from the trailer, is still pretty shocking and effective.
But the wind goes out of the movie's sails for all intents and purposes. So before I go on to the spoilers, I'll just sum it up: In The Bedroom is attempting to be a tone poem of sorts rather than one with a strong narrative structure, and it almost makes it work. It's a decent portrait of lingering family unhappiness usually banished below the surface so appearances are kept. But it drags greatly after the first act, saying little until a very actorly moment comes in which Matt and Ruth Fowler spit out all the subtext in one sitting, in which much of the honesty feels just a wee bit on-the-nose. The last act isn't bad, but the film is very manipulative, and the actions that some folks in my audience were cheering about were making me cringe. It's the sort of movie like American Beauty in which the cards are really stacked in the favor of a protagonist so that person gets to do some of the most heinous things in the film and receive the audience's applause. Anyway, what you're going to see is sort of a film version of maybe an interesting-but-not-necessarily-good Raymond Carver story or something. Maybe not Carver exactly, but you get the idea.
Okay -- spoilers.
It was no surprise for me that at the end of the first act, Richard kills Frank. I thought that was obvious from the trailers. It's staged extremely well, though, and you really feel for everyone losing this joyful young man from the picture. And man, do we miss him, because all the life and spark just drain from the movie. I'm sure this was the intent, but imagine what would have happened in Psycho if, after the shower scene, you had no one left to cast your sympathy toward. Basically, I really didn't give a rip about anybody who was left: the dad was kind of ineffectual, mom was cold, ex-girlfriend wasn't left with much to do, and Richard was a vacant, abusive ass. Hmmm... 100 minutes to go....
So basically what happens is the court system does its usual thing and Richard will be charged with manslaughter instead of homicide -- right; he put the bullet through the kid's eye on accident, and toxicology somehow misses the fact that the kid had no fresh bruises from a struggle!? So the Fowlers anguish over this and Ruth self-righteously slaps Natalie. A plan is hatched to put Richard in his grave; said plan is executed, Matt washes up and comes to bed. Ruth asks if the deed is done and if Matt is okay; fade out.
So the last two thirds of the film didn't interest me much. Oh, maybe the abduction and killing of Richard, but to be fair, there's a big difference between some idiot shooting a kid in an act of passion (the kid is sleeping with his wife, you see) and a man of some maturity (54 years) coldly hatching out a plan to murder. They're both horrible, but methodical killing, folks, is not admirable. (Tell that to the cheering crowd in Berkeley today. Good thing Richard wasn't fur!) But the brooding pace is dragging, and I really don't know what people are going crazy for with the acting, which ranged from okay to pretty good. Sissy Spacek is an actress I love -- look at Badlands and 3 Women, for God's sake! -- and she just really didn't have anything to sink her teeth into. Yeah, she pulls at her cigarette angrily real nice, but I'd have to fault the script for giving her such a flat role.
Interestingly, the best thing about the movie is probably the cinematography. The film looks great with imaginative shots which surely came from director Todd Field. There were some moments of staging which were so good I had to wish all the other elements of the movie were up to that level. I hope the accolades give him a chance to really get it right next time, because In the Bedroom does have fleeting glimpses of greatness. I think it's a package which looks so good on paper that people feel bound to praise it to the skies (see also Ghost World); the wise would lower their expectations a great deal.
Oh, hell, do I have to think up a name? Call me David.
Oh, yeah. Just so people know where I'm coming from:
Last year, my favorite movies were (in order) Almost Famous, You Can Count On Me, and Traffic.
This year, top ten is looking kinda weak. So far it's Memento, A.I. (warts and all), Fellowship of the Ring, Tape, Amelie, The Score, The Man Who Wasn't There, Monsters, Inc., Endurance, and Training Day. Still haven't seen A Beautiful Mind, Mulhulland Drive, or (what's looking less likely all the time) Ali. Or Waking Life.
